Pediatrics, psychiatry, medicine add new faculty

Medical Center leadership is proud to announce the following additions to its faculty and leadership staff.

Jyothsna Akam-Venkata, M.B.B.S.

Dr. Jyothsna Akam-Venkata has completed pediatric advanced cardiac imaging fellowship at Children’s Medical Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, and has joined the Medical Center faculty in the Children’s of Mississippi Heart Center as an assistant professor of pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Cardiology.

After earning her M.B.B.S. at the P.S.G. Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, India, Akam-Venkata completed pediatric residency training and pediatric cardiology fellowship training at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Wayne State University, Detroit. She then pursued her pediatric advanced cardiac imaging fellowship at Children’s Medical Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Akam-Venkata is a diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and is certified by the Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (Level II). She is an active member of the American Society of Echocardiography, the Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, the Fetal Heart Society, the American College of Cardiology and the American Academy of Pediatrics, among other professional organizations.

She has authored or coauthored 13 articles in peer-reviewed professional publications and one book chapter. She has served as a journal reviewer for five scientific journals and has served as a grant reviewer. She has given five national and five regional oral research presentations and has authored or coauthored 14 posters presented at scientific meetings nationally.

Akam-Venkata is passionate about multi-modality cardiac imaging and takes a holistic approach in the care of children with heart disease. In addition to general pediatric cardiology, she specializes in fetal cardiology, trans-esophageal and trans-thoracic echocardiography, and cardiac MRI. Her clinical and research interests include assessment of ventricular function using advanced imaging techniques such as speckle tracking echocardiography, three-dimensional echocardiography and myocardial tissue characterization using cardiac MRI.

Osman Athar, M.D.

Dr. Osman Athar, recently a consult liaison psychiatry fellow at Louisiana State University-Ochsner New Orleans, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior.

After receiving his B.A. in English from Rice University in 2011, Athar earned his M.D. at the McGovern Medical School in 2015. He then had residency training in psychiatry from 2015-19 at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, where he was chief resident from 2018-19. He had his consult liaison psychiatry fellowship from 2019-20.

An active member of the American Psychiatric Association, Athar has given six invited presentations at scientific meetings.

Joydeep Chakraborty, M.B.B.S.

Dr. Joydeep Chakraborty, recently a pilot gastroenterology and transplant hepatology fellow at the University of Florida, Shands Hospital in Gainesville, has joined the Medical Center faculty as an assistant professor of medicine (digestive diseases).

After completing medical school at Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, India in 2005, he went on to complete postgraduate training in internal medicine in 2009 at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, India. He subsequently practiced internal medicine in India before moving to the U.S. in 2014 to get further training in gastrointestinal and liver diseases. He completed residency training in internal medicine from 2014-17 and fellowship training in gastroenterology and transplant hepatology from 2017-20 at the University of Florida College of Medicine, Shands Hospital, Gainesville.

The author or coauthor of 12 articles in peer-reviewed publications and one book chapter, Chakraborty’s research interests include metabolic liver diseases, cirrhosis of the liver and its complications, imaging in liver disease and quality improvement. He has given 16 invited presentations at scientific conferences internationally.